Nicholas BensonNewport, RI

This hand-carved tablet was created especially for the Slate as Muse exhibition by renowned stonecarver Nicholas Benson of the John Stevens Shop whose work includes the inscriptions for the National World War II Memorial and the National Martin Luther King ,Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. “The tablet is from an 80-year-old piece of Monson (Maine) black cleft slate that belonged to my grandfather,” says Benson. The original slate vein is no longer mined, so this stone carries a special significance for the artist.Slate M is the second of a series of work that is a creative departure from the more traditional style of inscription carving which must be easily legible for monuments and memorials. “My process for Slate M began with a brown paper and red pen line drawing, very quick and rough, inspired by the natural texture and materiality of the slate,” says Benson. In this piece, the artist pushed creative boundaries with a more gestural interpretation of the letters. “It's my own calligraphic layout run amok in free expression,” he says. “I wanted to use text as texture with the block of text filling the stone.” He made a tracing paper “overlay,” refining the layout extensively while keeping all of the liveliness of the pen work. He then transferred the line drawing to the slate and then carved each letter inscription in v-cut lettering with a mallet and chisel. At first the inscription seems illegible, but Benson explains how to “read” it. “If you begin by trying to pick out individual letters, you'll then start to see the words,” he suggests. The quote in the inscription is from the modernist painter Tony Terenzio on the subject of art as a constant source for inspiration rather than a simple linear progression: “Of course no so called style can continue forever because then human consciousness would have to remain static. But, on the other hand you can’t pretend nothing ever happened. - Terenzio If you look closely, you'll notice what seems to be a mistake. The “A” in the word, “human” seems to had been omitted and a small one added as a correction. Benson assures that this was done on purpose however, there is a small “C” further along the same line that was indeed a mistake. Benson will continue to push boundaries in this series as more pieces are planned for the future. # # # # #